Taken 2 (2012)

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I intend to keep rolling through all of Liam's action films until I've seen them all and tonight this project brought me to Taken 2.

Look, you guys know that I usually tend to be pretty lenient on movies and I try to find the good in them, but no joke, this is the worst movie I've seen in a long time. It's a real piece of shit.

The good: It's competently photographed, has clear sound, and the lead performances are fine.

The bad: Everything else. The script is lazy as fuck and mostly just stupid, the editing is poor, the action scenes are serviceable AT BEST, and worst of all the film is just boring. It's not even entertaining on a stupid level.

Here's what really blows me away: This movie made $376 million worldwide, which is over $100 million more than Blade Runner 2049. That fact makes me weep for humanity.

Bottom line: I don't know that I've ever seen such a significant drop off in quality from a first film to its sequel. This feels a lot like some of the straight-to-DVD action films that I've watched, but worse, and with a higher budget. I could not in good conscience recommend this film to anyone except for die hard action fans who don't give two shits about plot and just want to see guns and fighting, even if the gun and fighting stuff isn't actually executed that well.

4/10, which is about the lowest score I give to a film that wasn't made by a film student or someone who makes TV movies for Lifetime.

So. . . With all that said, anyone have thoughts on Taken 2?

BTW, I guess I guess I should start keeping up with all these. Instead of ranking them or keeping ratings for everything, I'm going to do something I've never done before and give each film strictly a Pass or Fail.

Pass

Non-Stop
Run All Night
Taken

Fail

The Commuter
Taken 2
 
shadow_priest_x said:
Oh okay.

Let me ask you. . . What's your break down on this film? Why would you say it's your favorite and in what specific ways do you feel it is superior to the original?
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I liked that his actions from the first movie have actual consequences. In most action movies the hero kills people,blows shit up, and there is no consequence to anything

It makes the world feel more alive and not just background characters
 
It was nothing special but it wasn't that horrible.

Give Highlander 2 a shot if you want reach new depths of plummeting from film 1 to film 2.

Or Caddyshack 2.
 
TheRuthlessOne said:
I liked that his actions from the first movie have actual consequences. In most action movies the hero kills people,blows shit up, and there is no consequence to anything

It makes the world feel more alive and not just background characters
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That sounds like a legitimate thought, but I have to tell me, my Troll Meter is going off big time right now.

I really cannot believe that you actually think Taken 2 is better than the first film. On no perceivable level is it superior.
 
BisexualMMA said:
It was nothing special but it wasn't that horrible.

Give Highlander 2 a shot if you want reach new depths of plummeting from film 1 to film 2.
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I'm surprised to hear you say that. I actually was wondering if you had seen it and what you thought.

I'll put it this way, I remember you having a very low opinion of Tapped Out, but I legitimately think that's a better made film than this one. Maybe not better in terms of pure production values or better in terms of performances, but it was a more interesting film that made more sense.
 
shadow_priest_x said:
I'm surprised to hear you say that. I actually was wondering if you had seen it and what you thought.

I'll put it this way, I remember you having a very low opinion of Tapped Out, but I legitimately think that's a better made film than this one. Maybe not better in terms of pure production values or better in terms of performances, but it was a more interesting film that made more sense.
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Well, like I said Taken 2 was nothing special. Tapped Out, however, was very special.

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BisexualMMA said:
Well, like I said Taken 2 was nothing special. Tapped Out, however, was very special.
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I'll put it this way. . .

If you remember right, Liam's character has his daughter running around the city and throwing grenades to try to triangulate his position. Then she does it and blows all kinds of shit up and doesn't cause even the slightest bit of noticeable panic in the surrounding area or call any attention to herself.

Talk about retarded.
 
shadow_priest_x said:
I'll put it this way. . .

If you remember right, Liam's character has his daughter running around the city and throwing grenades to try to triangulate his position. Then she does it and blows all kinds of shit up and doesn't call even the slightest bit of noticeable panic in the surrounding area or call any attention to herself.

Talk about retarded.
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That grenade stuff is the first thing that pops into my head when I think about Taken 2, which really didn't leave too much of an impression. I mean, it's definitely silly, but it also does kind of serve its purpose with the plot and characters.

It's just kind of a forgettable movie for me. I think I enjoyed it more than Taken 3, so you're in for a good time there.
 
It's been a long while since I've seen Taken 2, but I do remember being entertained by it, at least by action movie standards.
 
I still haven't seen any of these movies.
 
BisexualMMA said:
That grenade stuff is the first thing that pops into my head when I think about Taken 2, which really didn't leave too much of an impression. I mean, it's definitely silly, but it also does kind of serve its purpose with the plot and characters.

It's just kind of a forgettable movie for me. I think I enjoyed it more than Taken 3, so you're in for a good time there.
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I'll say this, for the first half hour or so it felt like one of Van Damme's DTV movies that he goes and shoots in Bulgaria to save money, just with a bigger budget. Not bad per se, but completely generic and, as you say, forgettable.

But then we get to the grenade scene which was so mind-boggling that I literally almost laughed out loud. And the film just keeps making mistakes like that until I felt like I was about to be crushed under an avalanche of stupidity.

As for the third film, I have to watch it to complete this project, but I have taken note of the RT scores:

Taken - 58%
Taken 2 - 21%
Taken 3 - 12%

Critical darlings these films are not. But I'm starting to have a morbid curiosity about this third film which is supposedly worse than the second.
 
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here are some worse sequels

- Speed 2
- son of the mask
- titanic II
- caddyshack 2
- exorcist 2
- basic instinct 2
- american psycho 2
- weekend at bernies 2
- Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo


and i am sure many more
 
ProBoxingInsidr said:
here are some worse sequels

- Speed 2
- son of the mask
- titanic II
- caddyshack 2
- exorcist 2
- basic instinct 2
- american psycho 2
- weekend at bernies 2
- Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo


and i am sure many more
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Exorcist 3 is the best one
 
ProBoxingInsidr said:
here are some worse sequels

- Speed 2
- son of the mask
- titanic II
- caddyshack 2
- exorcist 2
- basic instinct 2
- american psycho 2
- weekend at bernies 2
- Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo


and i am sure many more
Click to expand...

I skipped most of those, but American Psycho 2 > Taken 2.

AP2 was a weird movie and had almost nothing to do with the first film but it was a lot more interesting than this shit I watched tonight.
 
shadow_priest_x said:
I skipped most of those, but American Psycho 2 > Taken 2.

AP2 was a weird movie and had almost nothing to do with the first film but it was a lot more interesting than this shit I watched tonight.
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i disagree. AP 2 definitely seemed like a direct to video movie (was it?).

What about Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo?
 
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